does the barrel grade matter ?

[gargra03]

I have a chance to get my hands on some older 55 gallon drums, I am sure they prob contained a oil product at one time but are mainly all rust inside at this time, would these work for a uds build as long as they are burned out properly ?

Thanks for all the help .

Gary

 

[desertlites]

It all depends on who you ask! I learned from old school guys on this topic- so I would never use a drum that was used to store anything Toxic.However I do use 1 that I'm not sure what was stored in it to make my charcoal in-but it has been a burn barrel for a few years prior though.I could never feel comfortable shareing my foods with others (let alone eating it myself) knowing the barrel contained oil in it at 1 time.But than again thats just Me.

 

[eman]

Have to agree , I know folks that have used oil bbls and hydralic fluid bbls ,
But i have a consience and really wouldn't feel safe feeding friends and family something that could possibly make them ill somewhere down the line.
Food grade bbls are harder to find but they are out there.

 

[rbranstner]

Yea that is a big debate and as they mentioned some use them that have housed toxic material and some say absolutely do not use them. If it were burned out REALLY good you can use them but like they said why take the chance if you don't have to.

 

[donnylove]

My first drum was an old, plastic-lined barrel that was mostly rust on the inside. I got it from a farmer and have no idea what used to be in it. If you go this route, you'll want to get rid of all the rust on the inside (a drill and a wire wheel works wonders). If you burn it out and then grind until you're down to bare shiny metal, I would think you'd be just fine using those barrels.

 

[got14u]

Well if you look at what the temps would be on a burn out you would find that not much will survive that type of temps...but what does a guy who has a associates in metallurgy know...honestly you would be fine burning and grinding it out after words...hell do 2 burns. either way rock on

 

[duck killer 1]

i tend to agree with the "nothin's gonna survive that" method haha! but seriously if ya burn it out and wire wheel it i'd say you'll be ok.

 

[countryboy19]

I used an oil drum. My dad gets oil by the barrel for the farm and business so we have lots of old oil drums around. I took one that had a pin-hole leak in the bottom and used it since he couldn't use if for anything else. I haven't died yet!

 

[messy]

We used food grade barrels that held orange juice for our UDS and they were pretty cheap, like $15.00. However it was a pain in the ass to get the liner out. We burned and wire wheeled and did it again. Good luck!